UNITED STATES - Florida State Board of Administration has approved commitments to infrastructure and timber for as much as $1.1bn (€691.6m).

This will be the first time that the pension fund has invested capital into either sector. The aim is to create additional diversification and solid investment returns over the long term.

The pension fund will invest up to $750m in infrastructure, through committing capital to a mixture of commingled funds which will be either US- or internationally focused.

The commingled funds will invest in a variety of assets including toll roads, oil and gas assets and government buildings.

The pension fund will invest up to $350m in timberland via several commingled funds; the timber assets could be located in either the US or some international markets. It is in discussions with consultants to help it make final decisions on searches for infrastructure and timber commingled funds.

The consultants include the likes of The Townsend Group, Wilshire Associates, Ennis Knupp + Associates, Mercer Investing Consulting and Callan Associates.  The plan is to make a final decision sometime this month.

Florida State has total plan assets of $126bn as of 1 July.